ArticleBMC gastroenterology2025
Volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath as non-invasive biomarkers for Gastrointestinal motility disorders: an exploratory study.
Article in BMC gastroenterology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsGastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders are characterized by abnormalities in the motor functions of the GI tract. The diagnostic evaluation of these disorders frequently involves invasive and time-consuming examinations, for which access may be limited. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could serve as non-invasive alternative. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the potential of exhaled breath VOCs as biomarkers in patients with GI symptoms and potential GI motility disorders.
methodsIn this exploratory, prospective study, breath samples were obtained from patients undergoing ambulatory motility tests as part of routine clinical care. VOCs in exhaled breath were assessed using thermal desorption chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The resulting data were subsequently pre-processed and analyzed using machine learning approaches.
resultsHundred participants were included in the analysis, of whom 67 were women (67%), with a median age of 56.5 years (IQR: 29.8). The diagnostic work-up comprised 55 gastric emptying tests, 55 high-resolution esophageal manometries, 3 antroduodenal manometries, and 1 colon manometry. These examinations resulted in 48 motility disorder diagnoses, while 51 patients showed no evidence of motility abnormalities. Fifteen VOCs were identified as most discriminative markers for the presence or absence of GI dysmotility, with a sensitivity of 75%, and specificity of 60%.
conclusionsVOCs in exhaled breath show promise to distinguish patients with GI motility disorders from those without, in a population of patients with GI symptoms. Future research is warranted to further refine and validate these results in a larger cohort and to explore the diagnostic performance of VOCs in specific subtypes of motility disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.